Why?
by romanticgirlgeek
Summary: An one shot comedic-angst (with a touch of sarcasm) look at the creative forces behind Scandal to explain Season 5...
**Author's Note:**

This isn't exactly fanfic but one fanfic writer's overactive imagination and over-the-top explanation for the madness of canon Season 5.

All based on SPECULATION AND CONJECTURE!

Warning: primarily focused on Olitz with some Olake, with significant references to KW and TG and mentioning of JM (previously known as Command) and SF.

According to the online TV Guide finale review for _Scandal_ :

 _Much like real life,_ _Scandal_ _'s election is just heating up as Season 5 comes to a close._

" _We're still hardcore into election stuff. Everything is so magnified by what's going on right now in the political landscape. We're still way in the political game," star Artemis Pebdani says, adding that she doesn't know who wins each party's nomination. And while Fitz and Olivia shook hands to have clean campaigns, "you'll see other kinds of chess moves," Pebdani teases._

I'm not sure if this some off handed comment to suggest that something is going to happen between Fitz and Olivia (not necessarily romantic and/or sexual) on the season finale as an enticement for us Olitz fans who have abandoned the show to watch the season finale.

As always _Scandal_ and its characters are the IP of Ms. SR and Shondaland Productions because if they were mine, I would definitely be telling a different story…

* * *

The creative powers of the TGIT lineup assembled for their weekly meeting to discuss the latest ratings for their shows. They knew that _Grey's Anatomy_ was fine but _Scandal_ and the recent addition to the lineup, _The Catch,_ were in trouble. They also knew the rating problems with _The Catch_ were in part related to _Scandal_.

 _Scandal_ had been their number one show with a tremendous fan following on social media but now their number one status had chipped away and the tremendous fan following had fallen off precipitously. The creative powers also knew the cause of the show's fallen status – the huge break-up between Olivia and Fitz and Olivia's decision to have an abortion without discussing it with Fitz from Season 5A, and not to mention the rapid personality transformation of Olivia in Season 5B. With the exception of the Almighty One of the creative power team, everyone else knew the only way to course correct the problem was to reconcile Olivia and Fitz which included figuring out some way to discuss the abortion issue that would allow Olivia and Fitz to work through it and be a stronger couple in the end, and Olivia Pope be the Olivia Pope that the fans know and love from the show's premiere.

However, the Almighty One was resistant to the idea of course correction. The other members of the creative power team broached the subject of course correction both inside and outside of meetings but the Almighty One refused to budge.

For the other members of the creative power team, they couldn't understand what happened – why the show was going in the direction it was. They had finally brought Olivia and Fitz together at the Season 4 finale and they thought when the summer hiatus was over, they would be working on storylines that explored Olivia and Fitz's relationship. For example, there was still the issue of Fitz and Mellie still being married which meant the Olivia and Fitz's relationship was still "illicit" but Season 5 could have focused on Fitz officially trying to divorce Mellie so he could marry Olivia or at least he could have a relationship with Olivia out in the open and not have the relationship be stigmatized. For some members of the creative team, the thought was Olivia and Fitz could have a "long" engagement before they officially married. The marriage could either take place when the show was about to end – in its last season, or if they wanted to make the fans, that is the Olivia-Fitz fans wait, the Olivia-Fitz wedding would take place at the series finale.

However, when the filming resumed for Season 5, the Almighty One had a different vision and was asking the writing team to concoct storylines and plots that would ultimately break the couple apart. As one member of the creative power team recalled from a meeting with the writing team –

 _ **Flashback:**_

" **All right, now that we have Olivia and Fitz together, we need to think of ways to break them up," declared the Almighty One.**

 **The writers looked at each other and wondered if they were hearing things. One of them spoke up, "You want us to break up Olivia and Fitz? Why? All the work we put into the Season 4 finale where we got finally got them together at the Truman Balcony and we are now going tear it apart…"**

" **During the summer hiatus I thought about the Olivia and Fitz relationship and I think we need to break them up. You need to trust me on this," responded the Almighty One.**

Since the Almighty One held all the power, the writers and the other members of the creative power team weren't in the position to challenge the Chief, which was another name they used to refer the Almighty One. They found themselves following the Chief's bidding and fulfilled the request (or demand, if one was an outsider looking in) and writing team and the creative power team put the newly resurrected Olivia-Fitz relationship on a collision course…

While each member of the creative power team was lost in individual thoughts, the Almighty One's/Chief's mind was racing…

 _Oh, damn, another week of bad ratings. It's good that Grey's is holding on its own even after the loss of Dr. McDreamy. But things are looking bad for Scandal and I don't even want to think about The Catch._

 _We caught a lucky break in getting a Season 6. Since Kerry and Tony signed for a 6-year contract for Scandal, as well as the show was under contract for 6 years with the studio, the studio needed to honor the agreements. Otherwise, there would have been huge financial losses for everyone involved if the show hadn't been renewed. The big "if" question is whether there is going to be a Season 7 for Scandal._

As the Almighty One/Chief was thinking, thoughts drifted to the show's star couple – Kerry/Olivia-Tony/Fitz that helped to put _Scandal_ on the map…

 _If people only could understand why I had to break up Olivia and Fitz, they might be more forgiving. Even Kerry and Tony don't seem understand what is happening and I know their patience is wearing thin. If there is a Season 7, Kerry and Tony might not stick around for it if the show is going in the direction it is going…_

 _It's not their fault the two of them generate so much chemistry and electricity on screen as Olivia and Fitz and off screen as Kerry and Tony to power up the continental United States. Even though both Kerry and Tony have said over and over again that each was happily married to other people but somehow that piece of information isn't registering with the public. It doesn't help the situation with the two of them looking so cute together and are so playful and demonstrative in public when they give interviews together. No wonder why people thought there was more to their relationship other than a professional one._

 _They're not teenagers and I can't act like the moral police telling them not to be so physical when they are being interviewed. The only thing I can do is to arrange for them to give separate interviews and not have the two of them sit next to each other when the entire Scandal cast is giving group interviews…_

 _Adding to the situation was the gossip about Kerry's marriage with Nmandi was for show and with Tony spending a big chunk of his time living in LA filming Scandal while his wife Jane lives on the East Coast, only fueled rumors about something going between Kerry and Tony to the point there are articles appearing in the tabloids about them having a relationship. At least none of them were on the front cover. But still having those articles circulated is bad…_

While the Almighty One knew there was nothing going on between her two stars but the rumors about something going on would be destructive for the show…

 _We already had to deal with the real-life problem of the McDreamy affair with a production intern on Grey's, rumors of an affair on another TGIT show would only hurt the production company's name. It is one thing for the characters of the TGIT shows to behave badly, the stars of the shows can't. I needed to put a stop to the rumors. The only way was to separate Kerry and Tony from each other. I knew I made the right decision when I saw the opening scene of the 1_ _st_ _episode of the season – Kerry and Tony as the newly reunited Olivia and Fitz and they were so hot in bed. Forget just having 4 kids – Olivia and Fitz would end up with enough kids for a baseball team with the way they were going at it._

 _Had we allowed the Olivia-Fitz relationship to develop in Season 5 and having the kind of sex that was shown on the 1_ _st_ _episode, and with Kerry and Tony giving interviews together, there would have been no stop to the rumors about them being a couple off-screen and this would not only hurt the show but also Kerry and Tony personally with their relationships with their spouses…_

Although the Almighty One couldn't give the real reason for breaking up Olivia and Fitz, and gave the vague reason of wanting to explore a different path of character development for Olivia, that is Olivia Pope was "on a journey", the Almighty One hoped the decision would have had some pay-off…

 _Too bad Kerry didn't get nominated for an Emmy. Had she been nominated for one, she might be more accepting of the direction of the "new" Olivia Pope. At least with the "new" Olivia Pope storyline, Rowan Pope is playing a critical role which meant we were able to bring Joe on as a regular cast member to be Rowan. While the viewers don't like Rowan, they recognize Joe's talents._

 _I know Tony didn't appreciate with what happened with Fitz and turning the White House master bedroom into a revolving door of women. I'm sure Tony would have agreed that Fitz needed sometime to be alone and to find himself as a person after getting divorced from Mellie and breaking up with Olivia, and would have accepted the idea of Fitz sowing some oats in his "bachelor" status. However, we got carried away with Fitz's post-Olivia sex life. While the viewers knew Fitz would be anxious for sex after breaking up with Olivia and being alone for 6 months, turning him into player was such a bad idea._

 _At least having Tony go shirtless to show off his 6-pack for those episodes was one way of keeping some Olivia-Fitz fans watching the show._

However, the Almighty One knew the decision to break up Olivia and Fitz had been one big wash for the sake of preserving reputations and even though the Almighty One remained insistent on staying the course, the Almighty One also knew first aid measures were needed to get the show to the end of the season…

 _The new Olivia-Jake storyline with the "new" Olivia Pope has been a disaster - except for the diehard Team Jake fans, most viewers aren't really buying it. Especially, when Olivia looks like she wants to be someplace else after having sex with Jake. Olivia never looked like that after having sex with Fitz. However, it was a safe way for us to have a love storyline in the show without it causing real life rumor mongering - no one has ever suggested that Kerry and Scott had something going on…_

 _Olivia seducing Jake on the eve of his wedding to Vanessa because "she loved him" was our last ditch effort to salvage the Olivia-Jake storyline but the viewers who just watched the show without any preference for Fitz or Jake, would find it hard to believe because it didn't make sense to the faithful viewer who followed the show from the premiere._

 _And the Truman Balcony scene where Fitz and Jake talked about Olivia and how Fitz is happy he is free will give us more time to keep the current storyline of Olivia and Fitz being apart going…_

 _Fortunately, we only have a few more weeks till the Season 5 finale. We have leave to enough breadcrumbs for fans, especially the Olivia-Fitz fans, to want to watch us for Season 6 – which means we have to give some element of Olivia and Fitz. The 5B episodes with Olivia-Fitz scenes in them show that there is still something between them - even when they are exes, there is still sexual chemistry between them - like when Olivia showed up at the Oval Office to chastised Fitz for his debauchery, the viewers could see the longing in Fitz's eyes for Olivia or the hurt on Olivia's face when having to confront Fitz about it…or the looks Fitz and Olivia gave each other after he said he would kick her ass when she agreed to run a clean election campaign…or the way Fitz and Olivia held each other after she bashed Andrew Nichols's head with a chair as the result of a PTSD flashback and Fitz promised her that everything would be ok._

 _And all of that is because of Kerry and Tony's on-screen chemistry and making Olivia and Fitz the hot passionate couple that they are. Yep, without Kerry/Olivia and Tony/Fitz, there is no Scandal…_

 _I have the summer hiatus to rethink the situation. Maybe the show could survive the gossip and innuendoes of there something between Kerry and Tony, after all the show is called Scandal for a good reason…_


End file.
